Sock-protector.



J. BOWMAN.

SUCK PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 9.1915.

1 1 98,4 1 2 Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

2 IN l/EN TOR ,4 TTORNE Y8 JAMES BOWMAN, OF NEW YORK, IN. Y.

SOCK-PBOTECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 9, 1915. Serial No. 38,921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jams BOWMAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sock- Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device adapted to be placed around the upper edge of a low shoe, known in the trade as an Oxford, to protect the sock when blacking or polishing the shoe. I When blacking or polishing a low shoe it is almost impossible to properly clean and polish the upper portion of the shoe without soiling the sock or stocking of the wearer. In endeavoring to protect the sock it frequently happens that the upper portion of the shoe is not properly cleaned or polished.

The device which forms the subject-matter of this invention is adapted to be placed with its lower edge within the shoe at the upper edge thereof and to encircle the ankle of the wearer to completely cover and protect the sock.

The device is designed to be readily fitted in the shoeupper and to be readily detached therefrom, and it consists preferably in a strip of flexible material adapted to be bent around the ankle and so shaped that its ends may be readily inserted in the shoe at the sides thereof, the lower edge at the front and rear of the device when in place, fitting snugly within the shoe over the instep and around the heel.

Another object of the invention is to provide the flexible strip of material with depending locking or anchoring extensions at its ends and substantially midway its ends, which anchoring extensions are adapted to be inserted in the shoe at the sides thereof.

It will, of course, be understood that the device may be formed of a .sheet of any suitable thin flexible material; and it will also be understood that the device is adapted for use with any form of low shoe or slipper.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device as arranged in use; Fig. 2 a view of the guard strip shown flat; and Fig. 3 a similar view of a guard strip of slightly different form.

Referring to the various parts by numerals 1 designates the guard strip as a whole. This strip at its ends is formed with the downwardly projecting anchoring extensions 2. Midway its ends the strip is formed at its lower edge with the downwardly projecting anchoring extension 3. The upper edge of the strip may be substantially horizontal, or slightly convex, as shown in'Fig. 2, or it may be concavo-convex, as shown in Fig. 3. The edge of the strip between the anchoring extensions curves upwardly, so that said lower edge between the extensions is concave, the extensions being convex.

In applying the device one of the end anchoring extensions is inserted in the shoe at one side thereof and the stri bent around the ankle, the middleanchormg extension being inserted in the shoe at the other side thereof. The other end of the strip is then overlapped over the end first inserted, and the whole device then forced downwardly into the shoe. The concave portions 4 fit .over the instep and around the heel, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1, so that the sock or stocking of the user is thoroughly protected and shielded entirely around the upper edge of the shoe. With this protector in place the entire shoe may be very freely and easily cleaned and polished without the slightest danger of soiling the sock of the user.

In the use of a device constructed as shown in Fig. 3, the upper edge will fit neatly about the ankle of the wearer, said upper edge being cut out as shown for that purpose. The cut out part 5, in the construction shown in Fig. 3, when the device is applied is at the back of the leg of the wearer. This permits the leg to be arranged in any desired angle without binding on the upper edge of the protector. This is of advantage when placing a shoe on a shoe blacking stand, in which position the leg is usually inclined backwardly at a considerable degree.

What I claim is:

A device of the class described comprising a strip of flexible material formed with an anchoring extension at its lower edge substantially midway its ends and with anchoring extensions-at its ends and extending downwardly from its lower edge, the said lower edge of the strip between the said extensions curving upwardly, one of said upwardly curved edges being adapted to fit over the instep and the other to fit Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

around the heel of the wearer, the ancho In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my ing extension in the middle of the strip besignature in the presence of tWo Witnesses. in" adapted to fit in the shoe at one side thereof, and the anchoring extensions at the JAMES BOWMAN ends of the strip being adapted to be over- \Vitnesses:

hipped and fitted into the shoe at the other J. CLARENCE WYoKoFF,

side thereof. WM. LADDEN. 

